Sometimes it all comes together

I'm doing a solo day tomorrow. It's my third, so you'd think I would be comfortable by now, but nope. Actually, in the classroom I'm perfectly comfortable, but I have been struggling with the lesson planning at home. I was complaining to discussing with my husband a few days ago and he suggested a writing lesson idea I really liked, but my mentor thought it wouldn't be great. :/ Last week my mentor had suggested a lesson on slang because a lot of the students write "gonna" and "cuz" in their work. I liked the idea, but struggled to find support or inspiration for it. All of my Google searches were turning up street slang or SMS shortcuts. I don't think "slang" is really the term I needed, it's more like lazy writing. I watched YouTube videos, read articles, browsed Pinterest (with just a touch of procrastination mixed in!) and just felt stuck.

Last night, while my husband got my son ready for bed, I continued to push through my block. Research, frustration. Then I took a break to lay down with my son and snuggle. Our nightly routine. While we cuddled he was so soft and so still. With my head on his pillow I listened to his breathing and felt his warm head pressed against my face. Now here I would like to say I was zen, at peace, completely present in such a wonderful moment... but that would be a bit of a lie. I was at peace, and calm, and suddenly my lesson solidified in my head. All on it's own. It just came together, a simple, straightforward lesson that my students would learn from and enjoy.

It felt like a weight was lifted. When I was done cuddling my son I came back downstairs and typed it up. I was hesitant to show my mentor, in case he disagreed with me, but I did and he loved it. He also agreed to let me do a bulletin board with the students projects from this lesson. It will be awesome. I can see it in my head already.

I went from tense and stressed about this solo day to feeling completely at ease and ready to rock tomorrow. I am going to have to do some serious reflecting (or something!) on why lesson planning is so challenging and stressful for me, but when it comes together in a moment of peace, it's a wonderful thing.

I'll post details of the lesson and a picture of my awesome (I'm sure!) bulletin board in a few days.